A Cross-Cultural Perspective on the Preference for Potential Effect: An Individual Participant Data (IPD) Meta-Analysis Approach

A recent paper [Tormala ZL, Jia JS, Norton MI (2012). The preference for potential. Journal of personality and social psychology, 103:567-583] demonstrated that persons often prefer potential rather than achievement when evaluating others, because information regarding potential evokes greater interest and processing, resulting in more favorable evaluations. This research aimed to expand on this finding by asking two questions: (a) Is the preference for potential effect replicable in other cultures? (b) Is there any other mechanism that accounts for this preference for potential? To answer these two questions, we replicated Tormala et al.'s study in multiple cities (17 studies with 1,128 participants) in China using an individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis approach to test our hypothesis. Our results showed that the preference for potential effect found in the US is also robust in China. Moreover, we also found a pro-youth bias behind the preference for potential effect. To be specific, persons prefer a potential-oriented applicant rather than an achievement-oriented applicant, partially because they believe that the former is younger than the latter

Excited Heavy Quarkonium Production at the LHC through WW-Boson Decays

Sizable amount of heavy-quarkonium events can be produced through $W$-boson decays at the LHC. Such channels will provide a suitable platform to study the heavy-quarkonium properties. The "improved trace technology", which disposes the amplitude ${\cal M}$ at the amplitude-level, is helpful for deriving compact analytical results for complex processes. As an important new application, in addition to the production of the lower-level Fock states $|(Q\bar{Q'})[1S]>$ and $|(Q\bar{Q'})[1P]>$, we make a further study on the production of higher-excited $|(Q\bar{Q'})>$-quarkonium Fock states $|(Q\bar{Q'})[2S]>$, $|(Q\bar{Q'})[3S]>$ and $|(Q\bar{Q'})[2P]>$. Here $|(Q\bar{Q'})>$ stands for the $|(c\bar{c})>$-charmonium, $|(c\bar{b})>$-quarkonium and $|(b\bar{b})>$-bottomonium respectively. We show that sizable amount of events for those higher-excited states can also be produced at the LHC. Therefore, we need to take them into consideration for a sound estimation.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figures and 6 tables. Typo errors are corrected, more discussions and two new figures have been adde

Paraboea yunfuensis: a new calcicolous species of Gesneriaceae from Yunfu, Guangdong Province, China

Paraboea yunfuensis F.Wen & Y.G.Wei (Gesneriaceae) is described as a new species endemic to the Guangdong Province, China. This species is one of two peltate-leaved Paraboea species in China. It is distinguished from the similar-looking P. peltifolia by the presence of longer pedicel and filaments, shorter staminodes, linear-lanceolate calyx lobes, and an indumentum on peduncles, pedicels, and calyx lobes. A detailed description, photographs of a specimen from the type location, and a table of comparative characters are provided

Selective cell death of latently HIV-infected CD4+ T cells mediated by autosis inducing nanopeptides.

Despite significant advances in the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV) infection, antiretroviral therapy only suppresses viral replication but is unable to eliminate infection. Thus, discontinuation of antiretrovirals results in viral reactivation and disease progression. A major reservoir of HIV latent infection resides in resting central memory CD4+ T cells (TCM) that escape clearance by current therapeutic regimens and will require novel strategies for elimination. Here, we evaluated the therapeutic potential of autophagy-inducing peptides, Tat-Beclin 1 and Tat-vFLIP-α2, which can induce a novel Na+/K+-ATPase dependent form of cell death (autosis), to kill latently HIV-infected TCM while preventing virologic rebound. In this study, we encapsulated autophagy inducing peptides into biodegradable lipid-coated hybrid PLGA (poly lactic-co-glycolic acid) nanoparticles for controlled intracellular delivery. A single dose of nanopeptides was found to eliminate latent HIV infection in an in vitro primary model of HIV latency and ex vivo using resting CD4+ T cells obtained from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of HIV-infected patients on antiretroviral with fully suppressed virus for greater than 12 months. Notably, increased LC3B lipidation, SQSTM1/p62 degradation and Na+/K+-ATPase activity characteristic of autosis, were detected in nanopeptide treated latently HIV-infected cells compared to untreated uninfected or infected cells. Nanopeptide-induced cell death could be reversed by knockdown of autophagy proteins, ATG5 and ATG7, and inhibition or knockdown of Na+/K+-ATPase. Importantly, viral rebound was not detected following the induction of the Na+/K+-ATPase dependent form of cell death induced by the Tat-Beclin 1 and Tat-vFLIP-α2 nanopeptides. These findings provide a novel strategy to eradicate HIV latently infected resting memory CD4+ T cells, the major reservoir of HIV latency, through the induction of Na+/K+-ATPase dependent autophagy, while preventing reactivation of virus and new infection of uninfected bystander cells

Kondo effect in carbon nanotube quantum dots with spin-orbit coupling

Motivated by recent experimental observation of spin-orbit coupling in carbon nanotube quantum dots [F. Kuemmeth \textsl{et al.}, Nature (London) {\bf 452}, 448 (2008)], we investigate in detail its influence on the Kondo effect. The spin-orbit coupling intrinsically lifts out the fourfold degeneracy of a single electron in the dot, thereby breaking the SU(4) symmetry and splitting the Kondo resonance even at zero magnetic field. When the field is applied, the Kondo resonance further splits and exhibits fine multipeak structures resulting from the interplay of spin-orbit coupling and Zeeman effect. A microscopic cotunneling process for each peak can be uniquely identified. Finally, a purely orbital Kondo effect in the two-electron regime is also obtained.Comment: published version, 5 pages, 4 figure

Isospin dependence of projectile-like fragment production at intermediate energies

The cross sections of fragments produced in 140 $A$ MeV $^{40,48}$Ca + $^9$Be and $^{58,64}$Ni + $^9$Be reactions are calculated by the statistical abration-ablation(SAA) model and compared to the experimental results measured at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) at Michigan State University. The fragment isotopic and isotonic cross section distributions of $^{40}$Ca and $^{48}$Ca, $^{58}$Ni and $^{64}$Ni, $^{40}$Ca and $^{58}$Ni, and $^{48}$Ca and $^{64}$Ni are compared and the isospin dependence of the projectile fragmentation is studied. It is found that the isospin dependence decreases and disappears in the central collisions. The shapes of the fragment isotopic and isotonic cross section distributions are found to be very similar for symmetric projectile nuclei. The shapes of the fragment isotopic and isotonic distributions of different asymmetric projectiles produced in peripheral reactions are found very similar. The similarity of the distributions are related to the similar proton and neutron density distributions inside the nucleus in framework of the SAA model.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures; to be published in Phys Rev